Good God, not this AGAIN! There is no comparison, because the two artists are
NOT COMPARABLE. Apples and oranges.

Mommy, mommy, make it stop!

I used to like Michael Jackson when I was a kid. It's kind of like the Star Wars films. I thought they were the best films ever when I was younger, but they no longer hold my interest. Michael's music hasn't aged well & is not very deep.

Now, I'm not a musician, but I do know some. Mostly white guys who are into rock. And if you ask them the Michael Jackson vs. Prince question, they will agree that Prince is better on every level as a musician. There is no comparison. In my experience, Prince has more support across the spectrum than Michael. Not in sales, but in respect.

That doesn't really settle the argument, though. Prince is probably a more talented musician than any of the Beatles, but that doesn't make him *better*. I love U2, but Prince is better technically than them. Technical skill isn't everything.

How did Michael get to be called a musical genius anyways? I've never seen him play an instrument. Ever. He also works with producers who are songwriters(like Mutt Lange and Q) so I'm not even convinced he can write anything. Mutt Lange has written all of Shania Twain's songs. Yeah, I know she's listed as a co-writer, but I don't buy it.

I've heard people say the Beatles could do everything the Stones could do, but not the other way around. I don't know if that's true(and I like the Stones much better) but that's kind of the way I feel about this topic. I think Prince could do every single thing Michael has done, but I don't think Michael could do very much(if anything) of what Prince has done.

Does anybody remember when Superman raced the Flash? Even though Superman was just as fast(he is Superman after all), he knew that all the Flash had was his speed. And if he wasn't the fastest man on the planet, he would be without an identity. There were other things Superman could do the best, so he let the Flash win to protect his ego & rep. Michael is the Flash.
[Edited 4/13/06 5:19am]

Davey133 said:

Bollocks

explain

Davey133 said:

textbook

Fair enough, I suppose, but the point I'm trying to make is that I'm fairly sure that the sexual appeal, and therefore onstage presence, of Prince, is far superior to that of Jackson

IBSTROLLIN said:

'nuff said !

remko said:

I totally get where you guys are coming from...I don't like Michael and he creeps me out, but if Prince were ugly and you still considered Michael beautiful it wouldn't settle who was better. Then again, neither would any of our posts on the org.

u2prnce said:

Michael made himself ugly.....

Oh come on.

Could you EVER imagine Michael Jackson writing the lyric:

Would U let me give U a bath?
Would U let me tickle U so hard U'd laugh and laugh

I think not.

Case closed.

lilgish said:

When I first read this I thought you meant Prince dances like he's in his bedroom.

That I can agree on.

like Michael's Looks but I like PRINCe cause he is my URCHIN MAN....I KNOW PRINCE will LICK my EARS and TOES.....Curl em 2!

[/quote]I've always considered Michael Jackson to be a true genius.

To be honest I consider Prince to be a poor mans Michael Jackson, but he puts out albums on a regular basis and i find most of them enjoyable, but never to the level of MJ's. Prince helps fill the time between Michael's albums.

I would say Michael is a far better singer, Dancer and songwriter. I also Think his live shows are the best ever. As far as musicainship goes prince can play more but I think Michael is maybe better on piano.

Prince is good but he at his best for me when doing pop type music and whenhe does I always hear Michaels influence in that music.

For me Michael is a 10/10

Prince a 8/10
[quote]

OK i wasnt going to reply to a stupid thread like this....but seriously....

"poor mans MJ"....what the fuck? Prince albums as fill-ins to MJ's??
You can give the dancer credit to MJ over P, but MJ hasnt given a new dance step since Billie Jean....but as for singer...this guy really must have broken ears....get your hearing checked...MJ's singing is flat and it never really deviates, oh and that pathetic attempt at a scream....p goes from a sweet falsetto. to a low baritone, to an all out scream - all in the space of 1 song....and when have you ever seen MJ pick up a guitar or even a triangle to play....i can understand the P vs MJ topic but seriously this dove-of-love should fly over a shooting range.

"Down, down with H-I-S-T-O-R-Y
And all this BS propagandi
Keepin' U from me and me from U as we grow "

All this Prince v. Michael Jackson stuff has very bad energy in it. But that seems to be the rule of the game on this org site. Rappers killing other rappers. White v. Black (an anti-Prince theme). Alien v. Terminator. Great music is made more often by musicians working together than competing. There's also some real black hate involved to even assume that two mature accomplished black men can't get along and do something great together. Can't you jiggahs be more positive.

Prince has performed/worked with other top selling and critically acclaimed artists (Cheryl Crow, David Henry Hwang, Chuck D, Eve, Ani DiFranco, Madonna, Maceo, Stevie Wonder, Santana, Gwen Stefani, Miles, etc., etc....). Shhheeet, Madonna worked with Britney w/o a catfight.

The question really should be "Why not Michael?"

If anything Prince should team up with Michael, use their combined fame, talents, energy to make a monster hit album (increase their personal wealth) and take black music back to the top of the music industry where it should be full of variety, fun, expert musicianship, originality, cool, bad, "soul fullness," warmth, angst & joy, African American history, irony, black humor, meaning, black politics, popularity, the best technology in the business, and the ability to incorporate/cross polinate the other cultural music while not loosing its center.

The rappers and r&b crooners have hijackeed, bastardized, and ghettoized black music styles and made them banal and empty.

alwayslate said:

Graycap23 said:

that says it all!

vainandy said:

And there it is. More white suburban parents bought MJ albums for Justin and Tiffany than would EVER buy for Prince. MJ was acceptable to white soccer moms to buy for their children because MJ never really sang about sexuality...(he just did it on the sly )

j/king but seriously... MJ record buying public was so much bigger than Prince. Prince appealed to serious music lovers... MJ appealed to the PB &J audience.
Now people are starting to respect Prince as the musical genuis that he is and always was. I hate it when the masses begin to like what I considered avant garde and cutting edge. Like moonwalking before it was called moonwalking. Next thing you are going to have Jay Leno walking out with bottoms out pants.. because it is "acceptable" and hip to like Prince again.

Daddy said:

TheBigBang said:

DITTO!!

Dazza said:

That says a lot about the taste of the average joe buying public.

I think Mozart wasn't very popular in his time as well. He died a pauper. yet his music transcended his time. I would like to think that after we are all dead and gone, folks will look back at the music of the 80's and 90's and see the genuis of Prince. And wonder what the phuck was wrong with music fans in that era to prefer bubblegum MJ and Mariah Carey over Prince.

jimmy2022 said:

Thank you for remembering Mr. Rod Temperton who wrote so many hits not only for MJ but also the group he was in, Heatwave.

I feel he was the source of much success of Thriller the studio album.

the video productions and MJ dancing of course helped... but without a great song, videos mean nothing.

EmancipationLover said:

Good point!

PurpleRein said:

no fair! Prince has an unfair advantage over Stevie.

Marrk said:[quote]

metalorange said:

Don't count Butterflies. A great hit for MJ but written by Floetry.

Illustrator said:

IBSTROLLIN said:

vegasE said:

And let me say I am not impressed at all with MJ's new dance steps during Billie Jean era.
I grew up watching neighborhood dance troops pop-locking as early as '75, 76,
Just before breakdancing came out. The moonwalk was then called the slide, and after that was called the electric boogaloo. Watch Shabba Doo on the movie I think is called "Breakdance".
MJ just copied the boyz in the hood dance steps then brought it to white/commerical America and everybody thinks he is a genius.
A regular Pat Boone if you ask me.